Doctor Druid may be a student of the mystic arts, but that doesn’t mean that he walks a righteous path. This week on Marvel 101, follow the descent of Doctor Druid through life, death, and the afterlife.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again: Hit List

Cullen Bunn lays out the victims in the Merc with a Mouth’s crosshairs!

by Tucker Chet Markus

Remember the year 2012? Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 60th year on the throne. Freakish physical specimens from around the world lifted heavy stuff and ran fast in a thing called “the Olympics.” The Mayan Calendar, regrettably, got proven incorrect in its prediction of the apocalypse. Oh yeah—and Deadpool killed the Marvel Universe.

On July 5, prepare to do it all over again—the Deadpool killing the Marvel Universe part—with DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE AGAIN #1! Writer Cullen Bunn and artist Dalibor Talajić reunite with a brand-new five part series as the Merc with a Mouth ravages his way across all of Marvel existence one more time.

We sat down with Cullen to try and spill one or two secrets about what to expect when Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe, again.

Marvel.com: Cullen, can you tell us a few names on Deadpool’s kill list? Pretty please!

Cullen Bunn: He’s killing the entire Marvel universe! That means every name is on the kill list! Duh!

Actually, that’s not entirely true. This time around, Deadpool isn’t just setting out on rampant murder spree without direction. He has specific targets he’s trying to take out. I kept a growing list of everyone Deadpool kills in the series. That helped us keep all the deaths straight. Trust me, the list is very, very long.

I don’t want to get into too much detail, but I’ll give you an example of how this series is a little different than the original. When I wrote the first series, lots of fans gave me trouble when Wade killed Spider-Man in the second issue. I can’t blame them. It was tragic. And as a peace offering, in the second issue of this series, Wade goes after the entire Spider-Family. Those spider symbols might as well be targets.

See? I love you guys. I’m a giver.

Marvel.com: Who—or what—might be motivating the Merc this time around?

Cullen Bunn: I could tease them, but that would just make them very angry. They don’t like teasing. And they have Deadpool doing their dirty work for them, and I’ve already been killed by Deadpool more than once.

Did I say “them”? That would mean there’s more than one person pulling the strings, wouldn’t it?

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again #1 cover by Dave Johnson

It’s true. There is a vast conspiracy at work behind the scenes here. And while we reveal the members of this conspiracy in the first issue, I think figuring out the mystery of what’s going on will be a big part of the fun for readers.

Marvel.com: What kind of weapons might we witness in use?

Cullen Bunn: So many weapons!

As you can imagine, if Deadpool is going to kill some of the Marvel Universe’s heavy hitters, he’s going to need some heavy ordinance. I’m not going to reveal his top secret weapons cache. It’s top secret, after all. But Deadpool’s going to surprise the heroes—and the readers—as only Deadpool can.

Marvel.com: You’ve mentioned that Dalibor is working with a few different styles for this book—what could that mean?

Cullen Bunn: With this series, we’re going to be honoring the history of comics and the vastly different styles of comics that have been delighting readers for ages. Of course, we’re honoring these wonderful comics with excessive violence and bloodshed, but that’s what we do. Dalibor has the chance to play with plenty of different styles here, as we explore how Deadpool views the world…and how the world really is. Dalibor kept telling me to challenge him; to “make his eyes bleed”—so I went right along with his request.